~ the (vino) ramblings of a Mal-bek

In the Beginning there was…Wine.

There was light and darkness, evening and morning, sea and sky – and there was Wine.

If any of you have seen Russell Crowe’s recent film, Noah*, you will know that towards the end he sits in a cave and, feeling rather overwhelmed by things (because, well, that Ark was a pretty mammoth task, (“yeah, come aboard my boat, gargantuan pythons” said no man ever)), he proceeds to get absolutely tanked on fermented grape juice. Thus concluding that in the beginning – or near enough – there was Wine. Oh yes, and Jesus drank it, too.

*I am not sure why they cast him for this role, it seems wholly inappropriate to perv over a biblical figure. I’d say I haven’t done it since, but I found this to be untrue when recently watching Christian Bale as Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings. Perhaps there’s a group one can join for this sort of problem.

My intro to Wine…

Wine has been my first love for a number of years (when you come to Stellenbosch, you drink Wine, a LOT of it) and the more I immersed myself in its intricate beauty, the deeper in love I fell. That is, until I met Eugene, now he is my Numero Uno Love, but Vino will always be “The One” that captured my heart. And liver. It’s never messed me around, screwed me over or cheated on me, yet it’s been there through all of those things. We’ve had a couple of lessons in the art of Respect, and Wine has always won. It was then I decided Wine should actually be spelled with a capital ‘W’. Respect.

And so…this blog is a small testament to my relationship with this intriguing, most marvellous tipple. Should you read it, I hope you enjoy it.

To end on some wise words from the back of a wine label I once read, “moenie drink en in die pad stap nie, jy kan sterf.” (Don’t drink and walk in the road, you can die.)